Rita Ora never looks for easy ways. She took the charts by storm, refused to perform at Eurovision and filed a lawsuit against Jay Z. How did a girl from a Kosovar refugee family become a star?
Rita Ora doesn't open. I stand in front of her house in Beverly Hills and press the bell. Alas, to no avail. The building is surrounded by a high wall, like other mansions in the area of the rich and famous. There is no way to knock on the door or look through the window; all that remains is to wait at the electric gates in the hope that they will still hear me. A car pulls up. Maybe it's a singer? The glass drops and I see a nice guy. "Are you from the delivery service?" he asks. And I am sincerely surprised when I explain that I have come to interview Rita Ora, but I cannot contact her. The interlocutor dials her number and, having received no answer, climbs over the fence and disappears into the depths of the garden. A few minutes later he returns, opens the gate and leads me to the house. Rita stands at the door, smiling broadly. “I’m sorry,” she says, “for some reason I decided that we have a meeting at 13:30.” And he introduces the savior to me: “This is my friend Faizal. We're working on tracks together."
The singer looks great. She is wearing a tiny gray swimsuit that I already saw on her Instagram a couple of days ago, vintage glasses with pink lenses and a black ribbon around her neck. Hair is pulled back in a ponytail. “Never mind this nightmare,” she apologizes for her hair and explains that her hair was damaged by the build-up on the set of 50 Shades. “A hairdresser will come to me, I hope we can do something about it.” There is weariness in her voice. Not surprising, given the crazy schedule: barely finished filming in the second and third parts of the film adaptation of the erotic bestseller, the girl plunged headlong into work on the new album. But that's not all: Ora recently released her sixth collection for adidas Originals, and will soon replace Tyra Banks as the host of America's Next Top Model. She obviously has no time to rest, but it seems that the crazy rhythm of life suits her.
We sit by the pool. It turns out that Rita "borrowed" this house from friends for the time of recording the disc. And yesterday she had her first day off in a month. “I lay there for most of the day,” she admits, “and then I felt ashamed and literally pulled myself out for a walk.” For the past 48 hours I have accompanied Rita and I can assure you that she deserves a rest. On Friday, the star starred in adidas commercials on the streets of Los Angeles until two in the morning, and on Saturday all day (except for a short lunch break) she posed for a Cosmopolitan photographer on Malibu Beach, after which she went straight to the LA Pride Music Festival, where she performed with singer Charli XCX. It's easy to forget that Ore is only 25 years old. Her family moved to London from war-torn Kosovo when she was one year old. For several weeks Rita and her sister were in an orphanage until her parents received official refugee status. Now her mother Vera works as a psychiatrist, and Besnik's father has his own pub. From an early age, the girl knew that she wanted to be a singer, and tried to turn her dream into reality by entering the Sylvia Young Theater School in London. “The teachers specialized in musicals, but my voice was not right for them,” she recalls, “so in class I burned out - turned a sentimental aria into a hot R'n'B hit. She did not sit in the corner, she was always the loudest and most groovy. This is how it remained”.
"Mom and Dad worked for two, and I respect many people for being hard workers."
At 16, Rita decided to quit school. “I started to prepare for A-levels (the British analogue of the USE. -), and then I spat on everything. I begged my parents to let me do nothing for a year and make music. She performed with my dad in the pub, helped at the bar. I'll still pour the perfect pint of beer with my eyes closed! " - laughs Rita. More and more people came to listen to the young talent. Soon she had a manager. And in 2007, Craig David invited Ora to participate in the recording of his track Awkward. A year later, she almost became a participant from Great Britain at Eurovision. “At the audition, I sang in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber. At first I literally died from the desire to show myself in all its glory, but by the end of the performance one thought was spinning in my head: "What the hell am I doing here?" That's not mine".
Rita's intuition did not disappoint: a few months later she signed a contract with Jay Z's Roc Nation label. Her three debut singles soared to # 1 in the UK charts. The album Ora was also there. Having established herself on the musical Olympus, she rushed to conquer other peaks: she was a mentor and judge in the British versions of the Voice and X-Factor shows, got roles in the films 50 Shades of Gray and Lefty. Last year she was even nominated for an Oscar - not as an actress, but as a performer of the Grateful song from the movie Behind the Scenes.
“When I entered show business, there was no clear plan: first I would release an album, and then I would act in films. Swam with the flow and did what seemed interesting at a particular moment. And then it started spinning, and I decided that I would do everything at once. Why not, if you have enough strength?"
Rita thanks her parents for her discipline. “Mom and Dad worked for two, and I respect many people for being hard workers. Let's say Victoria Beckham: how she rose from "peppercorn" to a serious designer! It's a pity, people often believe in the press, and there they only write about how "Rita hangs out". They don't realize that I work 16 hours a day, otherwise our industry will not survive."
She had to overcome many difficulties. When the girl broke up with singer and producer Calvin Harris in 2014, the young man forbade her to use the tracks to which he had a hand in the new album. Today Rita thwarts any attempt to talk about Harris: “I don’t want people to know me just because of my novels.”
The problems did not end there: in December last year, she filed a lawsuit against Roc Nation, where she recorded since the age of 18. The singer was about to break the contract. The company responded with a counterclaim. The settlement agreement was signed in June. Rita changed her label and can release music again. But even before the trial, there were rumors that Oru and Jay Z had more than just a business relationship, and that Beyoncé's mysterious rival, which Beyoncé sang about in the hit Sorry, was Rita. Ora silenced the gossips by posting a photo with Beyoncé. The caption read: "Family." “Whatever the circumstances may be, I am glad that I had this experience in my life. Jay is one of my idols and Beyoncé is the queen. I will not stop appreciating what they gave me and what they taught."
"I'll pour the perfect pint of beer with my eyes closed!"
Although Rita seems confident, like all girls, she doubts herself. And even admits that she felt bad before performing at the Oscars. “I guess I’m so worried that I don’t give a damn about the result. Sometimes it covers in the studio right before the song is recorded. It seems that I am not ready. But there are people nearby who find the right words."
Now Rita is feeling the best she can: next week she is flying to London, where she will meet her dog Cher. “I haven't been home for four months since I started filming Fifty Shades. My poor dog! Cher is looked after by a friend. I have cool friends: when I leave, they look after the house. I miss them and our pub evenings."
Rita is no less pleased with the opportunity to calmly work on the second album. “It's nice to do something you love again and be free in choosing a direction. There are days when I just gush with ideas, and then I just have to remove all unnecessary from the tracks,”laughs Rita. The girl even managed to work with Prince.
“I recorded at his studio in Minneapolis for a week. And I still cannot believe that he is not with us. He was one of the kindest and most inspiring people I have ever known."
Rita's cheerfulness is enviable, especially given her crazy schedule. “The most difficult thing is not to slow down. It takes discipline. You have to sacrifice a lot, communication with friends, for example. But when I turn 30, I can look back and say: "Wow, how much I did!"
